Barrhead County releases Historical Society funding

BARRHEAD - The Barrhead and District Historical Society will receive its funding allotment from the county of Barrhead.

County of Barrhead councillors, at their Feb. 4 meeting, unanimously approved by a 6-0 vote (Coun. Jared Stoik was absent) to accept administration's recommendation to release just under $5,000 ($4,997) the municipality set aside for the non-profit organization in its 2024 budget.

In April 2024, councillors decided to freeze the funding on the advice of county manager Debbie Oyarzun until the historical society got its house in order.

She also suggested the Town of Barrhead consider doing the same. The 2024 budget of the Town of Barrhead earmarked $10,000 for the society, which was paid.

At the time, Oyarzun cited public concerns about the organization's running. She also noted her concerns over improperly kept minutes and the society's outdated policies and bylaws.

The society runs the Barrhead Centennial Museum and is also the caretaker of the St. Mary Abbots Anglican Church (also known as the Pioneer Memorial Church) site. Unfortunately, a December 2023 arson fire destroyed the historic structure.

"I've reviewed all [the new board's] minutes, their draft bylaws, and there seems to be marked improvement," Oyarzun said. "There appears to be a lot more structure at their meetings. The minutes seem to reflect the decisions of the board. You can see that motions are being made, voting is taking place, and the minutes appear to reflect the board's decisions and are captured and documented well."

Coun. Walter Preugschas, a member of the historical society, later confirmed that the province had approved its bylaws.

While the society has made great strides in its governance, Oyarzun said there is still room for improvement.

"But I would suggest that we continue to encourage them to work with the county [and the Town of Barrhead] so that we can support them, not just financially, but from the governance and administrative perspective so that we don't find out these types of things after the fact and we can work on things together to head off potential issues," Oyarzun said.

Coun. Paul Properzi agreed, "We don't want them to take a step backwards to what it was," he said.

Preugschas added he does not believe that will happen, saying that the new board, elected at the society's annual general meeting (AGM) in late April 2024, has improved its governance and the museum building and displays.

"They've done a lot of painting and cleaning up and have changed up some of the displays. They are really working hard," he said.

In the months leading up to the AGM, the society had been plagued by reports of infighting among its members, to the point where the RCMP had been called to attend one of its board meetings.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com